


Think of a Wonderful Thought

by jellybeanforest



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Background Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Canon Compliant, Cap-Ironman Bingo, Cap_Ironman Tiny Reverse Bang, M/M, Missing Scenes, Pining, Post-IM3, Pre-Slash, Self-Doubt, Unrequited Crush, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25979143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellybeanforest/pseuds/jellybeanforest
Summary: After the events of Iron Man 3, Tony and Pepper move back to New York, and Steve finds himself drawn to the forlorn genius.For the 2020 Cap-IronMan Tiny Reverse Bang and Cap-IronMan Bingo 2020 Round 2 – Canon MCU (pre-CA:CW). Based on a prompt (WINGHEAD) by papoula.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75
Collections: 2020 Cap/Iron Man Tiny Reverse Bang, Captain America/Iron Man Bingo





	Think of a Wonderful Thought

**Author's Note:**

  * For [papoula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/papoula/gifts).
  * Inspired by [An Ending and Beggining [ART]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25027459) by [papoula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/papoula/pseuds/papoula). 



“I just don’t get it, Steve. You’re Captain America, the old stars and stripes, and you have absolutely no interest in getting up there, in seeing the actual stars?”

“I’m fine with the view from the ground, thanks.” It’s not that Steve is afraid of heights – quite the opposite in fact, considering they are standing near the edge of the Avengers’ Tower balcony – it’s just that he finds Tony’s suggested method of stargazing objectionable to say the least.

Steve can practically hear Tony roll his eyes, even if he can’t see him behind the Iron Man helmet. “So you don’t trust me not to drop you; is that it?”

“It’s not that. It’s just…” It’s just that it’s _Tony,_ and the thought of holding him close, his body pressed up against Steve’s…

“You can’t let go, can you? You can’t let someone else take the reins _for once_. Hell, Cap, I knew you had control issues–”

“ _I_ have control issues?”

“Yeah,” Tony replies, not missing a beat. “And this is _me_ saying it, which means you know it’s bad.”

“Fine,” Steve acquiesces, but upon stepping up to Iron Man, he suddenly becomes uncertain of himself. He doesn’t know where to grab on, where to put his hands in a way that isn’t compromising. “How do we…”

Iron Man’s head lolls in over-exaggerated exasperation as he threads an arm under Steve’s pits, clasping him on the far side. “Now step on my foot…”

Steve does so, holding delicately onto Iron Man’s shoulder for balance.

Tony grasps him tighter, pulling him into a full-body embrace. “And think of a wonderful thought.”

Steve blushes, raising a brow. “Like in the motion pictures? The one with the pixie?”

“I think you mean the documentary,” Tony corrects him, just before he launches them both into the air.

Steve’s stomach drops, his adrenaline rising as they zip up and up, the city rapidly shrinking below their feet. He claws onto Tony, his grip vice-like, but he finds the action unnecessary. His body is locked tightly against the Iron Man armor even as the wind howls in is ear and blows his hair flat into his eyes. They quickly break cloud cover, so all that surrounds them is mist and moonlight too bright for anything but the brightest stars to shine through.

“Jesus, Tony! Give a guy some warning before you shoot up like that!” Steve says, his face flush with color and heart thumping so loudly he’s certain Tony can hear it, even through the armor. “Like a Goddamn canon.”

“Language, Cap,” and Steve is never going to live that down, will he? “You’re an adrenaline junkie who jumps out of planes sans parachute. Nothing fazes you. Without the element of surprise, how else am I supposed to sweep you off your feet?”

Steve swallows around a dry lump. “Careful, Iron Man. Talk like that might give a man ideas.” His arms shift, coming to rest at the nape of Tony’s neck.

 _When did Iron Man get so tall?_ Tony must have built lifts into this version.

“That’s the idea,” he says, as his helmet melts away to reveal Tony’s face, bemused and wanting.

Steve leans in, his attention zeroed in on the man’s brilliant eyes, his plush lips, as everything else falls away from notice. He can feel Tony’s warm breath as he closes the distance between them, and–

An alarm blares, harsh and screeching, cutting through his dreamscape, catapulting Steve to waking reality. He reaches over, nearly flattening the source with the sheer force of his downward strike, and then rolls onto his back. He presses his hands into his face, pulling them down over his eyes towards his chin, thoroughly embarrassed he had had the dream again.

At least this time, he hadn’t had to covertly remove and stuff his sheets into the Tower’s laundry chute to hide the evidence of his nightly emissions.

What he’s doing, even subconsciously… It is wrong on so many levels. Wrong and inappropriate and entirely unavoidable ever since Tony and _his girlfriend_ moved into the penthouse suite a few weeks prior, after their Malibu home had been destroyed by Aldrich Killian.

Did Tony even like men? Steve hadn’t looked into it. It seemed like an invasion of his privacy and is ultimately irrelevant, because whether Tony likes men has no bearing on whether or not he loves Pepper. Bisexual didn’t mean unfaithful; Steve should know.

So instead, Steve drags himself out of bed. He might as well get started on the day, maybe grab a muffin before his morning run. That should distract him from his current predicament. His plan might have worked, too, if Tony and Pepper weren’t already in the kitchen, squabbling over breakfast.

“–we talked about this, Tony,” Pepper is telling him over the remains of half a grapefruit. She tosses it in the trash and puts her spoon and plate into the dishwasher.

“It’s not a coping mechanism this time. This time I–” Tony looks over to where Steve has entered, the man having made no secret of his approach. “Good morning, Cap. I thought you’d already be out and about. Dawn broke forty-eight minutes ago.”

“Tony should know, he was already up,” Pepper adds in clipped tones, her voice a touch tight.

“Pep–”

“I’ve got to run. Just… just try to get some sleep, alright?” She leans over to give him a perfunctory kiss on the cheek before setting off, her high heels clicking loudly against the hardwood floors then the marble of the foyer before she exits down the elevator.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Steve says, and he really means it. The dynamic between Tony and Pepper had been strained as of late, not combative per se, but a sort of weariness had set into their relationship. Steve never likes to pry into a fellow Avenger’s personal life, _especially_ Tony’s, but he had noticed. They all had.

“Hey, you know what they say: mi casa es su casa. Just make yourself at home, considering that’s what it is: your home.” Tony had been generous with his space, but that didn’t mean he really ever opened up to any of them on an emotional level. That had been an unspoken rule in the Tower: everyone’s personal business is off-limits. So far, it had worked fairly well…

Steve already knows he is going to regret asking. “Is, um… is everything okay?” He pours himself a thermos of coffee.

“What? Between me and Pepper? We’re fine, just peachy really,” Tony rolls his eyes, sounding exhausted despite the early hour (maybe because of the early hour). “You know how she gets. It’s always: Tony, did you review those papers I sent you? Tony, did you sleep in the lab again? Tony, when was the last time you showered? You know, the normal stuff.”

It doesn’t exactly sound normal to Steve – Pepper is his girlfriend, not his mother – but then again, he doesn’t know enough about romantic entanglements to contest the assessment. It also makes him uncomfortable, discussing Tony’s relationship with Pepper, all things considered, and so he tries to make his excuses to leave, “Yeah well… I just came in for a snack, and then I’ll get out of your hair.” He forgoes the muffin entirely, choosing a protein bar instead. It’s more portable and leaves less crumbs.

He leaves but turns back after a few steps, having forgotten his coffee on the counter, only to catch Tony staring hotly at his ass.

He crosses his arms. “Really?”

Tony doesn’t even try to deny it. “What can I say, Cap? I hate to see you leave, but I love watching you go,” he comments, taking a sip of his own coffee.

Tony must well and truly be losing it.

“You should really get some sleep, Tony,” Steve suggests before adding, “I’m sure Pepper’s just worried about you.”

But the man just waves off his concerns. “I’ll take it under consideration,” he says, in such a way that implies he absolutely will not.

Steve just sighs, walks back into the kitchen. “…I worry about you, too. I saw what went down in DC.” He had to have lived under a rock for weeks to have missed it.

“You mean how I saved the president? Pretty patriotic of me, right? I’m really giving you a run for your money on the whole Captain America front, but don’t worry, I’m not looking to switch up my persona. The Iron Man armor is much cooler than your blue spandex.”

“I meant the light show afterwards,” Steve clarifies.

“Oh… that,” and now Tony looks a touch sheepish, almost embarrassed, like he had been caught out doing something he shouldn’t. “It was cathartic, really. A clean slate. They were all junk anyway. Quantity over quality.”

“Just saying… someone blows up fifty Iron Men, and a fella might think they have a vendetta against the guy.”

“Twenty-one,” Tony corrects him, “and it’s not… I’m rebuilding, making them better this time around. You’ll see.” He almost sounds apologetic.

That won’t do.

“You know, if you wanted to hang up your gauntlets and walk away, no one would think less of you.” Steve certainly wouldn’t. The man had flown a nuclear missile into a hole in the sky, with no guarantee he’d survive the act. If he decided that that was enough… Steve is the last person to cast blame. He knows how hard it can be, to make the tough decisions and have to live the aftermath.

He means for it to be a comfort, to show he understands, but Tony’s eyes narrow in irritation. “I’m as much involved as you. You can’t get rid of me, so don’t even try.”

“That’s not what I– Look Tony, you’re an important part of this team. The Avengers are lucky to have you. But you’re not a soldier; you didn’t sign up for this. So if you wanted to take a different path…” Steve trails off, letting the implication hang between them.

They both know what he’s getting at: Pepper, a family, the simple kind of life free of aliens and political intrigue. Steve knows Tony wants this to be over, for everyone to be safe so they can all go home, but it’s an impossible pipe dream. There will always be the next conflict on the horizon, the next battle, and if Tony can’t handle the fact that world peace is forever a work in progress… then maybe he’s in the wrong line of work. Steve means it; Tony can bow out, no hard feelings.

He doesn’t. Instead, Tony’s voice is soft, defeated. “Pepper hates Iron Man, you know.”

And what can Steve say about that? Only–

“Well, I don’t know about all that, but he seems pretty swell to me, a real stand-up guy.”

“But I take off the suit, what am I?” Tony asks, parroting Steve’s own words, uttered so long ago before Steve really knew anything about the man standing before him.

Steve regrets it in a way, just one more mistake in the pile of missed opportunities, but Tony deserves the truth. “You’re _the_ Tony Stark. I admit I had my doubts, but when we needed you, you came through. Iron Man is nothing without the man in the can.”

Tony fidgets, seemingly uncertain what to do with a compliment from Captain America of all people, and so he simply says, “…Thanks, Steve.”

“Anytime, Tony,” he replies, smiling warmly.

So maybe he can’t have exactly what he wants, but he can be what Tony needs: a teammate, a co-leader… a friend hopefully. Perhaps that will be enough.

(Steve hopes it will be enough.)

Tony gets an odd look in his eye, bright and mischievous, the telltale sign of a flash of inspiration. “So, about your uniform–”

Steve is immediately suspicious. “What about my uniform?”

“It sucks. I have some ideas on how to improve it, starting with your pants…”


End file.
